Knowledge on physical and mechanical properties of fruits is necessary for designing and optimizing processing systems. In this study, several physical and mechanical properties of date fruit (Kabkab cultivar) and its seed were determined. The average of length, width, thickness, unit mass, 1000 fruit mass, geometric mean diameter, unit volume, surface and projected areas, sphericity, fruit true and bulk densities, porosity of Kabkab cultivar date fruit were 36.89, 18.68, 23.56 mm, 8264.07 and 8.25 g, 25.24 mm, 8507.8 mm3, 2008.27 mm2, 502.07 mm2, 0.96 g/cm3, 0.51 g/cm3, 46.20%, respectively. The respective values for its seeds were 22.98, 6.25, 7.48 mm, 789.2 and 0.79 g, 10.23 mm, 568.24 mm3, 330.30 mm2, 82.58 mm2, 0.99 g/cm3, 0.65 g/cm3, 30.45%, respectively. The static coefficients of friction were 0.34 for galvanized, 0.30 for steel, 0.32 for plexiglass, 0.31 for glass and 0.42 for plywood. Compressive loading testes were conducted at three loading rates of 5, 15 and 25 mm/min for deformation of fruit until 15%, 30% and 45% of thickness of fruit with seven replications. Some mechanical parameters such as force-deformation, energy and toughness were determined. The results showed that the loading rates affected the mechanical parameters significantly. By increasing the loading rate, the mean values of the mechanical parameters increased significantly.

Keywords: Physical property, Mechanical property, Coefficient of friction, Loading rate, Date fruit.

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